


Philocalist

by Soikia



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, Alternate Universe - Wings, M/M, The other three are mentioned like. once. but it felt weird not to include their names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-15 11:12:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17527649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soikia/pseuds/Soikia
Summary: Yuchan finally gets to go home after going out of town for a job.After three days of not being home, he actually misses it more than expected. Something about the small village vibes really did grow on him after living there for six years.It totally doesn't involve the fact that his boyfriend is probably excited to see him. Nope, it doesn't involve that fact in any way, shape or form.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Heeeeeeeellllllooooooooooooooooo
> 
> New fic *finger guns*
> 
> Info:  
> \- Happy birthday to Charmi! I hope you enjoy this fic!  
> \- This kind of fic concept is outside of my comfort zone, but I really did want to write about something involving people with wings so! Here this is. It actually ended up being a lot of fun and while I still feel like I could've done better with some aspects of the wings/feathers/etc, I'm pleased with it.  
> \- I'll try to crank out updates for my other stories too, but if I'm honest I dedicated a lot of time to this because I wanted to make it good.
> 
> Thank you in advanced for reading <3

❧ Location: The settlement of Sygil.

Yuchan has decided that, as much as he loves Sygil and the land around it, it’s miserable when it’s this cold. Yet the weather does very little to tamper with his excitement of being able to go home. 

They, as a people, are meant to be good at flying if they get a good glide going first. But with the snap of cold and the general frost, it’s too hard to maintain a good flight distance. There are some that can handle it, sure, but he’s also been on the weaker side when it comes to temperature fluctuations.

Thankfully the weather has cleared more than the previous two days, but it’s still too bad to risk flying. 

For now he’s got to tolerate the bumpy cart, pulled by the Quarbarry dogs that a friend in Sygil let him borrow. Giant beasts, first notably bred in the Quarbarry fields. Their fur is thick and handles the deeper chills better than the suphine can. Suphine get too rowdy when they’re tethered in the cold.

He’d prefer three three hundred pound dogs than two one ton beasts. He’ll substitute giant jaws full of teeth for battering ram-esque antlers any day.

Plus the dogs are just a bit better at directions. They know their way home on scent alone and don't need much guidance except the odd time he has to make sure they stay on the road.

Yuchan wants to get home soon, preferably. He’s snug in the blanket that he had borrowed, but the chill still hits his exposed fingers. Plus the poor dogs are getting frost on their fur. 

They do pick up the pace, which he appreciates. What he doesn’t appreciate is his clients demanding that they get their clothes in this weather. That's the whole reason why he was out here to begin with.

Yuchan is quite adept with sewing. He always has been. Of course a lot of it is coming down to having the time to do such activities; when Sehyoon isn’t in his workshop stirring up a flurry of fabrics, or Junhee pulling him away because some hoofbeast is causing a wreck in the main paddock, or Donghun bringing a cute little trinket he found and thought that Yuchan could incorporate into a shirt. Sometimes he has to go to the post office to get a letter that Byeongkwan sent so he could pass it over to Donghun. 

There are a lot of variables.

But when those variables don’t exist anymore, he’s a tailor. The only one here in Sygil at that. And if people want comfortable shirts to fit around their wings, they have to come to him. Usually, he doesn’t put too much of a price on them. Unless he’s traveling to deliver clothes outside of Sygil.

But Sygil is different. The cost of living isn’t as pricey there. What would cost an apartment in a menagerie city would get a whole house here - it’s the furthest from the menageries, a good two days worth of travel in good conditions.

‘The furthest tolerable civilization’ according to vacation guides. But tourism hasn’t necessarily hit them yet, neither has the predicted population boom.

They’re comfortably at a population just shy of one hundred and fifty. That’s plenty for the small settlement vibes. 

(Most are new families who were a bit too down on their luck to live anywhere else.)

When he looks straight down the packed dirt path, he can make out the dots of houses, marking entry to Sygil. The road ends just shortly past the settlement - there’s no developed areas past them at this point in time. Maybe in the future.

Yuchan starts to pass by the fences and pastures, animals huddled together as they move through the iced grass. The big barn doors are open wide on his left, some of the creatures willingly roaming in as ranch hands seem to get ready to round up the ones still out in the field. This weather is prime time for some animals getting attacked - people too.

It’d be wise to get all snuggled up indoors soon. Not just for the ability to defrost, but for the protection of it. 

He barks out to the dogs to make sure they stay on the road. Just because they know the way home doesn’t mean they’ll stick to the roads to get there. The dogs slow down just a bit as they trot ahead, their patience probably running just as thin as his is. He tugs on the corners of the blanket, bringing the warm fabric closer to his face. 

If he had known that this cold snap was about to hit, he’d put off the delivery even if it meant losing ten bucks. But it had quite literally hit the morning of and the client insisted that they needed it before the temperatures dropped even more. Which was annoying.

Yuchan shivers and swears he can already feel a sore throat coming on. 

A suphine takes to striding alongside his cart which serves as a distraction. The things are massive - maybe a solid seven and a half feet without counting the antlers. According to scientists, it’s the closest related creature to the extinct Irish Deer. They just came out of the woodwork one day and stole the title of ‘biggest’ deer from the moose population.

And they’re scarier than moose too. 

They’re properly known as ‘Suphine’s Deer’, named after the zoologist that took care of the first ones held in captivity. Their intelligence was highly up for debate until the researchers came and saw them ramming the gates of their metal paddocks until they burst open.

The reason? Zoologists forgot to feed them.

There’s also one unconfirmed case on which a Suphine might have attacked a person, but it’s up for debate because everyone's still unable to get a bite mold of the deer’s mouth. And really, who would want to?

But, if raised right, they can be good things to have. They like to work for food and are more acclimated to the rocky terrains around Sygil.

Menageries could never tolerate such things living in their cities. But here - Sygil has been home to the Suphine for a good fifty years.

Seeing as the oldest one here is a stud at the ripe old age of seventy six, he can only imagine how long these things will linger.

(Long after the people are gone. He feels it in his bones.)

The dogs pull ahead, probably in no mood to be so close to a mammoth beast. Which is justified, he’s done the same.

The road looks slick now, fine powder covering it in some places while thin layers of ice cover it in the other. The lead dog trips up over a patch, inadvertently picking up the speed to recover. It must strain the other dogs, who rush to accommodate for the sudden pace change.

There isn’t much further that they have to travel, though. The Quarbarry lodge looms in the fog that’s settling in. 

“Off right.” He calls out, clicking his tongue to get the dogs attention.

Not like he has to say anything, the dogs were already going that way. It’s ingrained in them at this point. The lodge, built up on stilts like the rest of the houses, is the home of all the Qaurbarry dogs. The family that cares for them all is absolutely lovely.

They also make a pretty penny off the few tourists who visit. Especially since they charge the actual community next to nothing.

The dogs slow to a stop as the cart clatters over the rocks by the entrance. The cart hits a bump that separates the last dogs paws from the wheels, keeping the cart from rolling into the. The Quarbarrys look back at him expectantly, panting and heads tilted. Waiting.

So he stifles his shiver, tugs his shawl around himself a bit tighter as he casts off the blanket and climbs off. He reaches for it once he's off the cart, grabbing both it and his bag of clothes that he traveled with. Looping the drawstring of the bag around his waist carefully, he frowns at how it knocks on the side of his leg. Then he tucks the blanket under his arm. Finally he moves to diligently undo the leads and makes sure that each and every dog gets a pleasant kiss on the head. Maybe a rub behind the ears if there’s frost there.

He follows them up the stretch of stairs, watches how the one in front seems to know how to open doors (which is horrifying and makes him want one of these things even less). But the fear is quickly replaced with a smile when Chae-young peeks her head through the door frame just as he’s getting to the welcome mat.

“Oh dear!” She squawks, quick to usher him in. He doesn’t even get much of a choice to say no. “You must’ve been freezing out in that weather. You should’ve boarded up at..where were you going? Brafe?”

“I - yeah. Brafe.” He says, trying quickly to catch up with her conversation. Passing over the blanket, she smiles brightly and goes to lay it over a rack - presumably to let it dry off. But no, he would not have wanted to board up at Brafe. It was one day of travel, one day of staying there and one day of travel back here. He did not want to stay there any longer than he had to.

“Brafe would’ve at least been more tolerable, they don’t deal with weather like we we do down here.” She continues. “Hello, by the way. Were the dogs good? Did they seem to do good with the cold? They’re the pups from the litter three years ago, remember that litter? A healthy litter -“

“They were wonderful, Chae-young.” He soothes as she shoos him off to the couch before he can even take his shoes off.

Chae-young has always been a bit of a fast talking woman. She’s kind down to a fault with words tumbling out of her mouth at twenty miles an hour. Her feathers creep up to her cheeks and her hair always seems to be as frazzled as they are. She doesn’t fly much, if he recalls, because of a bad accident that sent her into a tree during a storm. But she’s plucky and responsible for raising at least fifteen dogs.

Her husband is away at work, usually, cutting ice on the restricted coasts past Sygil. She’s always receiving parcels from him though, and is always the first to let people know when he’s coming back for his three month vacation.

Chae-young’s kids have long since left her except for her youngest daughter, who seems to have adopted her fast talking despite only still at the stage of broken sentences. Her two oldest fled Sygil as soon as they could get the money to.

He’s not sure if they’ve messaged her since.

“- I’m glad they’ve treated you well, Yuchan.” She continues to say and he’s left wondering how much he’s missed. “I saw Donghun out and about today, off working on another house? They were laying a tarp over where the roof should go. Such a shame. They were so on track with that before the cold. Do they work through that stuff?”

“They’ll probably work on some parts of the inside in hopes of staying on schedule. Then cover that stuff up when they start the roof.” He comments idly as she moves to root through one of the tins on the counter adjacent to them.

“I see, I see.” She nods, clicking her tongue. “Candied orange, Yuchan? They’re very good in this weather.”

“No thank you, ma’am.”

She nods again, popping one into her mouth before shutting the tin.

“Can you get to your home safely? I feel a storm coming. It never gets icy like this without a storm it seems.”

“I’ll be fine.” He reassures. “I’d be more worried for the Wilderness Patrol in all honesty.”

“Oh!” She gasps. He shouldn’t have said anything. “Those poor folk. Maybe I’ll head down to the ranch tonight with some warm drinks. It seems cruel to make them go out in that weather.”

“You know that if it gets bad the head of the patrol will try to round them up.”

“We can’t account for everyone, though! Once they’re out in the wilds they’re out there, no set maps prior to leaving! Unless they’re on a specific trail at the start by request, do you remember when my darling Lena had to go track down the suphine bull five years ago after it ran out during the rain?”

“I do.” He replies. “But they’ll know it themselves if it gets too bad.”

“You’re right, I doubt them too much.” Chae-young comments. “They’re sturdy folk.”

“They are.”

“You have friends on the patrol don’t you?”

“Correct. Donghun was also on the patrol before we started dating.”

“Ah! That’s right, you were! You both were so cute at that age.” She says, plopping down next to him and smoothing down her long pleated skirt. “I’m still convinced he left it for you, those hours out in the wild are tiring things.”

“His architect route can still be tiring.”

“But you’re not sitting up late at night worried for him! Once it gets too pitch black to work he’s gotta come home!”

“They still pull some late nights if they got electricity running.”

“Even then, the average cold night sends them packing.” She chuckles. “He’s a good catch, a good good catch. If you two ever want to take the dogs out for a romantic date -“

“I’ll contact you.” He finishes for her. “But we usually fly.”

“Of course, more reliable.” She says whimsically. “All these diving pads, you wouldn’t see them in menageries. They don’t like constant flight there. The domes of the cities make it too hard.”

“I’m sure.”

“I’ll never live there. I may not fly often anymore, but I’ll never go there.” She says, firm on the matter. “I want to live to my eighties raising pups and seeing you grow up all crotchety with Donghun. I wanna see the people of the patrol settle down and find new jobs as younger ones take the reigns.”

“You’ll live far past your eighties, Chae-young.”

“I hope I don’t outlive Sygil, then. It’d be a shame. We need more folk here.”

“Donghun’s helping with a new house for a reason.”

“Oh, I do so hope it’s a family. Watching kids fly for the first time is always so precious.”

He knows it is not a family. He knows that it’s only one person with no relationship attached to them. Telling this to Chae-young that seems like a bad move, especially with the way her eyes sparkle at the idea of seeing some new kids in the area.

“More families will move in soon, I’m sure. People just need to see it to understand how pretty it is.” He says instead.

“You’re so correct. So right.” She pauses to look up at the ticking clock. “Oh you must get going, I assume. With the bad weather and the cold and your house being a ten minute stroll from here -“

“Yes, yes. But I’m sure it’s not too bad.”

“You’re a tailor, you should make thicker clothes for yourself.” She says as he gets up. “Are you cozy now?”

“Plenty warm, ma’am.” He nods. “Say hello to Charlize for me, okay?” He asks as she follows after him to the door.

“Absolutely. Absolutely! I’m going to bring her in for a fitting later this week. The young ones grow so fast, her feathers are already growing up along her shoulders like her dad’s.”

“Shoulder feathers are always the bane of existence.” He jokes idly. “Stay warm, okay?”

“Always! Make sure to heat your house up Yuchan!” She says, opening the door for him.

And then he’s out of the house, trying not to feel too relieved from leaving. The bite of cold shuts down any relief, though, and his shawl blows in the breeze. He puffs his feathers up for insulation and makes a move down the stairs.

One last check in the cart to confirm he didn’t leave anything behind as he readjusts his bag around his waist. He didn’t. It’s always been a matter of light traveling for him, all he usually carries is his wallet in his back pocket.

With the last bit of warmth settled deep in his bones he begins the frantic trudge home. All he can do is start up a slight hill where the lights in the houses have come on. It’s cold enough for diamond dust to be present, and he’s sure that the patrols are probably retreating to Sygil at this moment.

All he has to do is get up the hill, find his house and then scale the two flights up to his front door. 

Houses here are built on stilts - usually thirty feet high. Each one has diving pads attached off the side of the main build. It’s just easier to take flight by jumping off of something as opposed to trying and get off the ground at a stand still.

And despite the conditions he can see a few residents taking flight over head. Stronger fliers can handle the winds like this, can deal with the cold nipping air.

Yuchan is not one of those folk. 

But he’s not alone in his walk. There’s a few other people about - mainly younger adults and teenagers that are moving about as briskly as he is. It seems everyone has completely opted for the thicker clothes.

Vaguely he wonders if Centre Lake has iced over. Part of him doubts it - but the icy slush has made him curious. Maybe he’ll check it out tomorrow.

Or ask Donghun about it. That would work. Donghun would know, since he’s working at a build site by the lake right now.

Yuchan will ultimately beat him home, he’s sure of it. 

But when the house comes into view, he suddenly doesn’t care about being home alone as much anymore. Not with the cold creeping into the fabric of his pants and shawl, or the water getting into his boots after stepping in a puddle deeper than expected.

The first thing he does when he arrives home is cast off his shawl and hang it precariously on the coat rack by the door. Then he's opting to throw his whole bag of clothes across the open layout to try and get them by the laundry basket in the back of the house. 

It seems that he had came home just in time, judging by the whistling of the wind as he shut the door. Rubbing his hands together, he scuttles his way over to the space heater.

No one is willing to haul the big machines out this far. So space heaters have to suffice - it’s either that or travel all the wait out to a menagerie to get a big heating unit. Space heaters are a common piece of tech that all the outer settlements have. 

He fiddles with it for awhile, cursing at the settings on it. It’s on a timer - set only to run in four hour increments before shutting off to recharge itself. He just hopes that the place will warm up with that time.

Yuchan goes about the home tugging the curtains closed. He’d make dinner but he doesn’t know when Donghun’s scheduled to come home. If he’s really working on the house in this weather he’ll be let go early. That’s how it usually works, anyways.

Finally he sets himself down to brush through his feathers, frowning at the damp ones. The melting frost that had unfortunately got onto them makes him feel gross. It’s not the worst he’s dealt with. But it’s still enough to get him off the couch and into the bathroom cabinet to grab at the drying powder.

Donghun swears by it, but Yuchan has always found it to make him feel a bit itchy. Normally he’d just shower and dry off with the towel but -

He wants to wait for Donghun to get home before showering.

He takes a liberal pinch of the stuff, rolling it between his fingers before extending his arm and patting it onto his feathers. Then he repeats the method with the other side. It smells vaguely of wisteria, if he’s honest. 

The powder is supposed to dry up any moisture on the feathers. Thankfully his feathers do feel less damp when he rubs them a few minutes later. Whether that’s the powder or just air contact, he’ll never know.

But now he truly reclines on the couch, waiting. With the heater whirring and shuddering every few minutes, he’s stuck with his thoughts.

Not that it’s entirely a bad thing, it’s just boring. Usually his mind will drift to work and he doesn’t want that. He wants to cuddle, or maybe bundle up and enjoy the outdoors, but the latter would make him miserable. Sygil doesn’t really get snow until the heavier storms roll in, so for now they’re stuck with sludgy mud and ice.

Get your foot stuck in there and your shoe is a goner. Such a shame, really. He knows that the kids of the town are probably mourning the same issue. 

Though he really feels for the parents. Keeping the kids in and away from doing stupid shit is an Olympic feat. And then there’s Chae-young who has to walk the dogs and deal with a kid.

Wilderness Patrol doesn’t necessarily get days off when the weather gets like this either. Donghun’s told him about how their patrol hours will be shorter, but they still have to go out. And it kind of sucks because that means less pay on those days as well.

He curls up in a blanket and decides to numb his mind by counting sheep in his head. Maybe, just maybe, he can sneak a nap in.

In the end, it’s another three and half hours until the door to their home gets pushed open. 

He ended up giving into showering well over an hour ago. His feathers were just too itchy to wait. The one thing he hasn’t done is eaten. Because really - he wants to do something with Donghun before they go to bad.

Donghun shrugs off his own shawl, unhitching the golden clasp between the fabric. He hangs it up neatly next to Yuchan’s more sloppily laid out one.

“Hi, babe.” Yuchan says brightly as Donghun rubs his hands through his hair. “Late night?”

“Weather doesn’t help much.” Donghun sighs out as he crosses the small expanse to press a kiss against Yuchan’s forehead. “It’s good to see you.”

“I got home a good four or so hours ago.” He replies. “Chae-young told me that you guys had gone to work on the house in that weather.”

“Yeah. Byeongkwan's coming down much earlier than expected - something about needing to get out of the city.”

“The cities are awful.” He agrees. “So did he write you then?”

“Called, actually. I told him that we still don’t have decent cell phone service out here and that his would be nothing but a glorified camera when he got here.” Donghun chuckles. “He seemed fine with it, though. Sounds younger than he does when we wrote.”

“I think he’ll enjoy the lack of cellphones, guy sounded miserable when he first started writing you.”

“Mhm.” Donghun nods, stretching his arms above his head. His feathers puff and scrunch under the movements, midnight blue sheen reflecting off the low light of the living area. “Flying to work was the biggest mistake.” He says after a moment. “So I just walked home.”

“You flew in that cold?”

“I wanted to get there quick and the wind wasn’t bad yet.” Donghun doesn't seem to get where the worry is coming from about that fact. “Anyways, have you eaten?”

“No. Not yet.” Yuchan says with a shake of his head. “Wanted to wait for you.”

Donghun grins at that, bright and genuine. Yuchan’s pretty sure that his smile was one of the reasons he first started crushing on him. 

Their whole floor plan, aside from their bathroom, is rather open. There’s the front door that opens up to the couch and living area (with a television on a rolling tray) right across from the kitchen. And then the bathroom right next to it. Their bedroom is tucked into the far right corner of the house, covered only by a divider and a curtain rod that Donghun installed when they first moved in. They change the curtain every few months. Right now it’s a lovely cream and orange. 

When looking at it, the house is a perfect square - that’s pretty common here - with the one exception of having a balcony that they use as a takeoff and landing spot when they actually do go flying. In all honesty, he probably uses it the most to get down to his tailor shop.

His tailor shop is a good three minute fly away, down in the ‘downtown’ area of Sygil. With thirty feet of free air, they can get very brief dive time before pumping their wings and heading off to where they need to be.

The only time he doesn’t do it is when he has to bring in groceries or laundry. 

Because they don’t have a laundry room in their house, he’s got to take a basket to the downtown every week and a half. And it’s not like he can fly back with it - it’s the one downfall of having wings attached to arms.

But for now he can push away the thoughts of housework because Donghun's making his way over to the kitchen. From what he can gather, they don't have much food - the fridge was nearly empty when he looked in it a few hours ago. 

They end up cooking some fresh berries down into a jam to spread over bread. It’s not a classy dinner, but it’s good. 

Donghun sits across from him at their table, only just starting his second slice while Yuchan is already smearing jam onto a third piece.

“Did your travel to Brafe go well?”

“Well enough.” He hums. “The clients paid well for me delivering it when it was cold out. And Brafe was..Brafe.”

“Surely things have improved over there?” Donghun asks, nibbling the edge of his piece.

“They still haven’t reinstated their Wilderness Patrol.” Yuchan huffs. “And their downtown is in a state of disarray.”

“They’re having a hard time switching from a trade to money based economy.” His lover quips softly. “Sygil had the exact same crisis fifteen years ago. We did keep the patrol, though. But the downtown was less for leisure and more for folk desperately trying to catch up to the money system.”

“I suppose that’s fair. It all just seemed more vibrant before the money caught up to them.”

“It’ll get better there, I’m sure.” Donghun nods. “People willing to pay you for a delivery is proof of that.”

“I hope so.” He sighs.

He wasn’t here when Sygil had to convert from a trade based system to a money system. Donghun had been born here, though, and he remembers it being particularly rough on his parents. It was easier for him to adapt to it because he was younger at the time, but his parents had lived with trade for a good half of their life at that point.

Now Sygil is booming as far as out of the way settlements go.

Which is the best anyone could ask for in this case. They don’t have to import fruits or vegetables because they’ve got good farmland. They found an abundance of clean water. Ranchers came in with their live stock. Tourist attractions such as camping and dog sledding have cropped up.

Sygil will be okay, he thinks. 

Donghun smiles at him cheekily. All he can do is flash a grin back.

“I guess you’re going to want to go to sleep soon, huh?” He asks after a few minutes, sobering up. “You’re probably tired.”

“I’m exhausted.” Donghun agrees. “But I’m not going to bed until you do.”

“But if you’re tired -“

“We have three days worth of cuddling to make up. I’m going to start with that tonight no matter what time it ends up happening at.”

Lee Donghun is ridiculous. Absolutely, stupidly ridiculous. The kind of ridiculous that makes jam for dinner, fluffs up his feathers and calls it the best meal on this half of the world. And he’s madly in love with him, which he finds to be as equally ridiculous.

Which is why he ends up doing the dishes. Because Donghun wants to shower before cuddling and Yuchan finds himself offering to do the dishes before Donghun can push back the chair to get up. 

So he’s here, now, carefully avoiding getting water on his feathers as possible. It’s been a bit easier to do that now that they have a faucet hose feature. Plus there’s not many dishes to do, so he’s done within a span of five minutes. Patting his hands dry on a towel, he moves to flick off the lights. Now the only light in the house stems from the slight crack in the bathroom door. The atmosphere is a definitively something he's been missing. After a moment of just soaking it all in, he's walking to the corner, tugging back to get into bed.

He flops onto the bed, rolling over to his bedside table to turn on the lamp. It illuminates the small space, casting shadows on the curtain folds. This is their cheap way of imitating walls. If anything, it’d be hard to find a house here that has actual walls around the bedroom. 

Donghun comes out of the shower a mere five minutes later, hair puffed up from what he can only assume was an aggressive shake out. 

“All clean?”

“Yeah. Made sure to actually towel off my feathers this time.”

“Good.” Yuchan grins, patting the mattress space next to him. Donghun hops on up, inching his way forward before contently plopping his head down next to Yuchan’s. “Your hair is going to be full of knots in the morning.”

“Yeah, well.” Donghun grins. “I’m lazy, lifting my arms is such a chore.”

Pfft. Loser.

They enjoy the silence and nestle themselves close to each other. The longer they’re pressed against each other, the easier it is for Yuchan to admit that he missed this. He had been an avid explorer when he was younger, had flown his way into Sygil to be this grandiose ‘mountain man’ that was outdoors all the time. Some of that still lingers, now, but he’s happy that he has someone to come back home to now.

“I want to go flying, tomorrow.” He murmurs at some point into the sleepy air. “If weather permits it.”

“Where?”

“Centre Lake. Has it frozen up?”

“No.” Donghun hums, tracing along his sides up until skin turns to feathers. “It was getting whipped up from the winds, though. Really pretty - the fish were jumping and everything.”

“So we can go?”

“Yeah. Sit on the dock like we used to?”

“I’d enjoy that very much.” 

Donghun smiles at him brightly and Yuchan returns it. 

There are probably tons of stories they could tell each other about the last three days. But for now they decide to bask in mutual silence, doing nothing more but cuddle against each other. 

He’s not really surprised when he looks over sometime later and sees that Donghun’s dozed off. The older tends to be apologetic about it but Yuchan gets it. He’s sewing stuff most times while Donghun is hauling heavy things around. They’re tiring in different ways.

Like tonight he’s travel tired. Donghun is work tired.

Alike but different. So he’s fine with pulling the blanket over Donghun, carefully smoothing down the visible feathers before pressing a kiss to his cheek. He also opts to do the house check and make sure all the windows and doors are locked. 

He gets to take a good look outside as he checks the locks on the front door and window. There’s ice on the railings and the steps, spots of it flaring out from the wind. Sideways icicles, really. They sparkle on the otherwise uninterrupted moonlight. Houses across the way seem to be lively, lights on or people braving the weather to chat out on their porches. 

The patrol is out there, too. He can see their lanterns cresting over the hill path and disappearing into the murkiness of the night. The suphine seem nonplussed over such things, but his heart aches that they’re still out there.

Maybe he’ll knit something thicker for the riders. Or at least the ones he knows. 

Eventually he shuffles back towards the bed, more keen on catching some shut eye than watching anyone through a window.


	2. Chapter 2

When morning rolls around, he wakes up to the feeling of the feathers on his shoulders being bent awkwardly to accommodate laying on his side. He scrunches up his face, sitting up and fiddling with them.

Feathers suck in the morning and during molt. If they could just not exist at those moments in time, he’d be happy.

Donghun’s side of the bed is made up and the curtain is just slightly ajar to let the morning rays of sun peek through. He grunts, deftly reaching to shut off his lamp before crawling out of bed.

The first thing he registers is the space heater being on. He hasn’t caught sight of Donghun just yet, so he forgoes the routine of ‘kiss first stretch second’ in favor of inching his way directly in front of the heater. He stretches his arms out, flapping them a few times in order to get some wing action going. A small flurry of wind sends the heater rocking in place, causing him to quickly cease his actions just as fast as he's started them.

Still, it's definitely a good way to start the day.

He arches his back until it cracks, yawning tiredly as he tucks his arms back close to his sides. This way, his longest feathers comes to around his kneecaps. 

There’s a creak on the stairs up to their front door that draws his attention. They all have sharp hearing but - according to Donghun - his is a little too sharp.

He glances over to the door, pursing his lips and deciding to go back to fluffing himself up as Donghun enters the house unceremoniously.

“Good morning, babe!” Donghun announces brightly. “I went out to go see if Chanhee had some fresh vegetables. We hardly had anything here with you being gone and all.”

“You make it sound like you didn’t eat.”

“I did!” Donghun laughs. “But it was usually Chae-young bringing goodies over to curb the loneliness.”

“She really is the settlements mom at this point.” Yuchan says with a click of his tongue, leaving the safety of the heater to wander after Donghun like a lost dog. “Chanhee had vegetables he was willing to give up, I assume?” He asks as he wraps his hands around his waist once Donghun comes to a halt at the counter, cheekily giving him a kiss on his jawline. “Good morning.”

“He’s always got too many vegetables.” The other hums, shimmying a little in Yuchan’s hold. “Now don’t be a menace and help me clean these that way we can go out to the lake.”

He’s more than happy to help, sliding away to stand next to him and pluck vegetables out of the basket. It’s carrots and eggplant, mainly, which aren’t his favorite foods. But they’re out of fish according to what he saw in the their fridge last night, so they don’t have much meat available.

“Do you think we can get some of the divers to grab something for us?”

“Nah, they’re all staying away from the lake because of how cold the water is.” Donghun replies with a tsk. “So we’ll just juice the carrots and cook up the eggplant with..” Donghun stops, looking at the basket. “..cilantro?”

“I hate cilantro.”

“Then you’ll just have eggplant and I’ll have eggplant with cilantro.”

Yuchan makes a comment about how he really doesn’t like eggplant. He’ll accept the carrot juice because Donghun’s carrot juice always tastes really good, but no matter what it’ll be hard for him to enjoy eggplant.

He does still cook it up, though, as Donghun messes around with the juicer. Donghun gets his cursed cilantro eggplant rounds and Yuchan mashed his eggplant up so he doesn’t have to chew it. Which in the long run means that he doesn’t have to taste it as much. All he has to do is swallow it down.

“What’s the weather like this morning?”

“Chilly. The sky has cleared up though and the wind is tolerable.”

“So we can fly?” He asks, setting his plate down while Donghun cuts into his own meal. Donghun nods, shooting a smile at him before eating. Yuchan smiles back before sipping at his juice.

“I’d suggest using some of the feather proofer, though.” Donghun says after a few minutes. “Just so there is that extra protection in case we do get caught up in some moisture.”

Noted.

They finish their (pitiful) breakfast in relative silence. It’s no surprise that he enjoys the carrot juice more, still pushing around the eggplant when Donghun gets up to put his own dishes away. The older walks off to presumably get ready.

By the time that Yuchan is putting his own dishes in the soapy water, Donghun is out of the bathroom, shaking out his feathers. A small puff of dust rises into the air and Yuchan grimaces at the thought of having to sweep it up later when they get home. 

Yuchan circles around to grab the shawl from the coat rack and taking it with him to the bed. He pulls his crate of clothes out from under the frame, looking for a more suitable pair of pants to fly in. Things need to be light weight with less drag. 

Then it’s the torturous process of getting ready. He refuses to put the shawl on just yet, brushing through his hair and cleaning his teeth first. When he sets his hair brush down, he notices a few baby feathers interwoven in the bristles.

Maybe he should stop brushing so hard. 

Proofing is the most annoying thing. It’s much like the drying agent, except meant to go on prior to outings that might involve water. Patrol riders usually get big jugs of the stuff.

Theirs is in a spray bottle that is very similar to hairspray. He hates the noise as it sprays onto his feathers, cringing at the hiss of it leaving the nozzle. One good thing is that there’s no scent and his wings don’t feel as itchy.

Even he replicates shaking his feathers a bit afterwards as he’s leaving the bathroom, sending an identical dust cloud up into the air. Though he spins around in it, hoping that his neck and shoulder feathers catch some of the downfall. He can hear Donghun making a snarky comment at him as he does it. 

“Despite my years of life, I still can’t believe we have to launch ourselves off a platform just to take flight.” Donghun laughs as he wanders closer to pluck at his shawl and shoes. His pants are thin material, just a breadths way from being see through. It seems like Donghun’s chosen the same idea. “Because we are truly amazing creatures.”

“Hey.” Yuchan chides. “Remember that humans don’t have wings. Our whole species is just a whole ass mutation, probably.”

He moves over to the other just to adjust the fabric around him. It’s wonderfully thick, much like a cardigan but heavily altered. There’s gaps along the collarbone and sides of his neck with no sleeves at all, deliberately made to avoid aggravating the more plentiful areas of feathers. Donghun’s sensitive to fabric rubbing the wrong way and Yuchan’s worked very, very hard to make sure he won’t rip up the clothing in a fit of anger.

(In his opinion, they don’t really need things on the top halves of their bodies. But if everyone comes to that realization, he’d lose half of his business.)

“I thought we were a subspecies of harpy?” The older asks as Yuchan smooths the front of the fabric down.

“School never really went into that.” He replies smartly.

“Menagerie school.” Donghun says dramatically, as if the very mention of it was toxic to him.

Yuchan tsks at that.

“There’s no scientific proof that we’re subspecies or descendants of harpies. If you really want to know, you’d got to go find the harpy colonies and - really - I think they wouldn’t take to kindly to someone barging in to demand a history lesson.” He states dully, shaking his head. 

“But like.” The other continues, gesturing vaguely when Yuchan finally steps back to throw his shawl from yesterday on. “There’s similarities.”

“There sure is, babe. But neither of us are in the right career field to really figure that kind of stuff out.”

Donghun scrunches his face at that before letting out a small chuckle of agreement. Really. They’ve been over it several times. Chae-young’s told him her theories about it several times. And he’s sure that there’s some truth to both potential theories - mutation versus subspecies. Maybe they’re a subspecies because of a mutation.

But he was not born to figure that out.

Eventually he manages to usher them out to their diving pad. It’s a humble size, wide enough for them to stand shoulder to shoulder. It’s much longer than it is wide, purely so they can get a small running start.

Flinging yourself off into the open air is one hell of a courage test. Which is exactly why he steps back to let Donghun go first.

There’s one simple rule they have - do not take off at the same time. In the case that one of them falls, at least the other is still able to book it down to them on foot and aid them. Luckily they haven’t had to do that yet.

“Will you ever be the first to go?” Donghun asks mirthfully, still stepping up despite the comment.

“Absolutely not.”

Donghun laughs, stretching out his wings. He’s got maybe a good four feet to sprint before it’s all up to his feathers catching the air. Hence the thirty feet between them and the ground. 

(There’s been a few close calls.)

He doesn’t say anything as Donghun gives a few test flaps. It’s still hard to process the thought of their wings being connected to their arms and being able to work.

Maybe they are part from a harpy lineage, because harpies had to use magic just to glide. He can’t work out not having some innate inner magic that makes this shit work. 

Then Donghun is running, arms tucked in close until the very last moment where he unfurls them. He tips off the side of the balcony and Yuchan can’t help but turn and look away. There’s a ‘fwoosh’ noise for a split second, which makes his skin crawl.

But then out of his peripheral vision he sees a mass rise back up, the strong sound of wings beating against the air loud in his ears. 

They, as a whole, struggle to stay in the same spot when flying. It’s just too tiring. Flapping in general is exhausting - which is why gliding is preferred once they’re able to. He looks over, smiling with relief as he sees Donghun curving around the house and coming into view on the opposite side of the roof. 

Yuchan repeats much of what Donghun did, but perhaps a bit more tentatively. Donghun’s already on the move, probably. What Donghun has in steady flying, Yuchan makes up for in speed.

So it’s a few seconds of hyping himself up before his taking a running jump as well, waiting a beat later than Donghun did to cast open his wings. 

Breathe. Twenty five feet between him and the ground. Twenty feet. Fifteen.

Then he beats his wings, relishing in the feeling of going up.

Five feet of height is the closest he’s ever been to crashing. At the time, he didn’t have the strength to pull himself up so he ended up gliding down the road until he could land without bowling someone over.

He’s definitely not meant to be a distance flier. It’ll probably be mere minutes to when his muscles start to feel like they’re screaming at him.

Yuchan curves around their house, repeating the trail the Donghun had. Up to the opposite side of their house and then over the roofs of others, angling to beat his wings less often and let gliding take the main front. But he flaps a bit more than Donghun does, for the sake of catching up.

What was once the fleeting figure of his boyfriend is quickly turning into a solid object in the air, and he can vaguely see Donghun looking back to make sure he’s behind him.

The air feels wonderful under his wings. Donghun is just ahead of him, feathers reflecting the small amount of sunlight they’re getting. The chill is more tolerable now and the wind is gone.

Good flight conditions.

It’s an easy glide. They get their height back after their initial dive to catch the air, coasting over houses and over the crest of the hill. When he looks down, he can see the people milling about, scraping ice off of their porches. 

They sail over the hill, the downtown sprawling out in front of them. A giant lake, smack dab in the center, glistens and swirls with ice rounds that didn’t break up or melt. 

It’s been there for as long as people have documented this place - said to have come from a meteor. 

He and Donghun had cast stones into it with each other’s names scratched into them. It was dorky, but he remembers it fondly. Donghun had insisted that it'd be a symbol of their relationship standing the tests of times. Honestly he still hasn't quite worked out how that could be the case. 

Donghun dips down, just enough to slowly descend as the downtown gets closer.

It’s all their shops - his tailoring store somewhere among the stilted places. Shops are notoriously lower than houses, though, just to try and avoid crashes with people flying in. Which has happened way more than anyone in Sygil would care to admit.

The safest place to land is the western bank of the lake, where the grass and sand feels like cotton under foot. There’s been a few times that Donghun’s ended up in the water, but he’s more waterproof between the two of them. 

Yuchan isn’t a graceful lander. He angles himself alright, gets into the proper position, but still stumbles as soon as his feet make contact. He sends up a cloud of dust as he takes three paces forward to try and stop his momentum, holding his arms out in attempt to get his feathers to help steady and slow him down. 

Meanwhile Donghun lands just fine, perhaps a tad aggressive with it. Yuchan fluffs his collarbone feathers and tucks his chin down just enough to bury the lower portion of his face into them. 

The sand kicked up between them settles, leaving Donghun to tucking in his arms and strolling over to him happily.

“One day you won’t stumble.”

“Fuck you.” Yuchan bites back, a laugh slipping out just a few seconds later. In the end, it’s kind of nice. There’s plenty of people that look graceful when they land anyway. 

“Look at those disks.” Donghun marvels, nodding his head towards the water. “It’s always been spooky about how they’re perfectly round.”

“Yeah.” Yuchan nods, glancing out towards the water. Then Donghun is clicking his tongue, walking off towards the dock. 

It’s older and perhaps in need of a clean up, but it’s stable. Donghun says it’s been there since he was a little kid. Overhead, a few people seem to be taking in the good weather, flying off towards the forests. They gradually disappear along the line of trees, finally dipping out of sight around the area of Fissures Cliff.

Donghun had taken him out there once. It’s pure wilderness - on the way towards the ice floes that Chae-young’s husband works at.

“Think the icers are having a good day?” He asks while that thought lingers in his head. Donghun hums in response, holding out his hand for Yuchan. He smiles at the gesture, taking his hand as he steps onto the wood of the dock. It groans just slightly, but it doesn’t bend like the one on the eastern shore does.

“Icers were probably the only ones ecstatic about the weather.” Donghun chuckles. “They’ll be cutting some fresh ice and sending it to Sygil, I suppose.”

The ice beds that the icers work at are a wonder of the world - the world's largest carving bed. Over twenty miles long, just land locked with ice thats frozen over the coastal spillways. There’s something magical about it, taking weeks for a good five pound chunk to melt. Yuchan always gets a block to tuck away in their fridge and freezers because it keeps things much colder.

Their fridge and freezer are barely operating without it, hence the lack of milk and meat in it. All they are at this point are glorified chill baskets.

Plus he gets a discount on the blocks since he’s dating Donghun. He doesn’t know what the older did to get them the discount, but he’ll take it all the same.

“I’ll pick some ice up later tonight.” He comments. “So we can get fish.”

“If the divers get fish.”

“They’ll have to at some point, there’s not a lot of other meat around here. Well. Except for the ranchers but you know how skimpy they are with their livestock.”

“They’d prefer to sell it than to kill it.” Yuchan mumbles. “I didn’t like fish before I came here.”

“And yet within the first year of dating me I taught you how to dive and catch fish.”

“And that’s been the only time I’ve done it.” Yuchan says, lips pressed together as he sits himself at the edge of the dock.

Diving is horrifying. Tucking your wings in and praying that you hit the water at the right angle to catch fish and avoid hurting yourself. Then there’s the whole hope that you put enough proofer on in order to keep the water from soaking every single flight feather. And then having to hope there’s a boat nearby that way you can toss your catch onto it.

Too much risk. He’s surprised that no ones drowned yet. 

Donghun sits next to him, dangling his feet just above the water. When the sun shimmers just right, the water seems to fog up and make itself even less inviting.

The only living thing to be enjoying the water right now are the Quarbarry dogs, who are barreling down through the reeds to throw themselves in. Chae-young probably isn’t far behind, though she always goes slow that way the elderly dogs and the young pups don’t get left behind.

Not like anything would happen to the dogs in Sygil, but you never know.

“Are the schools in today?” Yuchan asks. “I never remember how the schools here work.”

“They are.” Donghun replies simply, eyes gazing over at the dogs as soon as they splash into the water. “They have next week off.”

“Ah.”

Yuchan likes to think that he’d enjoy settling down with children at some point. Not anytime soon, but maybe after he’s worked hard enough to have some decent money saved.

They’d also have to renovate the house and, well, that’s exhausting.

Plus he genuinely doesn’t understand the school system in Sygil despite being responsible for stitching up the beginner fliers first air shawls. All he gets from that is that he starts working in the spring and hands them over to the kids in the summer.

Yuchan sighs, resting his head against Donghun’s shoulder.

They don’t do much other than talk about the last few days they’ve been apart. Donghun met up with some of his old patrol friends and they went for a fly to the abandoned wheatfield in northern Sygil. Yuchan tells him about how he found out that Brafe might get a railway system if they can stabilize themselves as a city within the next three years.

He decides that he’s happy to be back in Sygil. Not just for Donghun but just as a whole. When he lived in the menageries, they didn’t get much open space like this.

“Do you think this weather will hold up?” He asks after a moment, glancing up at the sky. The clouds haven’t rolled in just yet but they’re there. It’s almost like they’re in the eye of a storm. 

“Probably for another few hours or so, why?”

“I wanted to take a flight down to the root patches. There had to still be some edible things there, yeah? Like thermble and cistro roots?”

Donghun makes a noise in the back of his throat, leaning back to think. Yuchan’s dislodged enough to nearly slip into his lap, but he leans back sharply just to avoid that. However, it does nearly send him toppling over the other way. Donghun lets out a high pitched laugh at the whole ordeal, sitting straighter that way he could wrap his hand around Yuchan’s hip and tug him close.

“Yeah, those roots are probably still available. The rules about planting any seeds we find still stand, though. Then again I’m not too sure how many seeds there will be with the seasons starting to change.” Donghun muses. "I'm fine with going if you want to. We'll have to walk, though."

"That's fine." He replies. Really, he's more than happy to walk - he has no desire to climb the diving square on the southern shore. Flying over the water always freaks him out. 

He's thankful that it's not that hard to convince Donghun to do things. Usually all he has to do is mention something and Donghun will willingly go along with it. Which, to be fair, Yuchan is very much the same way. 

By the time they get up to head to the fields, the sun is glittering over the water. Part of him likes to think that the weather cleared up especially for them. There's no time to dwell on that, though, with the way that Donghun is gleefully running away from him. With a loud and indignant shout, Yuchan pushes all thoughts out of his mind in favor of catching up with his boyfriend. 

Just like that, life is back to normal.


End file.
